


Darker in the Shade

by kuki



Category: Original Work
Genre: Angst and Humor, Bisexual Female Character, Bisexual Male Character, College, Dorks in Love, F/F, F/M, Friendship, Gay Male Character, Lesbian Character, Loss of Parent(s), M/M, Mental Health Issues, Secret Identity, Self-Harm, Superheroes, Supervillains, Tags May Change
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-01-30
Updated: 2017-05-21
Packaged: 2018-09-20 21:37:51
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 15
Words: 17,725
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9517205
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kuki/pseuds/kuki
Summary: -currently being rewritten-At age 11, Aspen lost her parents, met her best friend for life, and gained superpowers. By age 18, The Silver Remix had been fighting crime for five years and Aspen is looking forward to going away to college and starting fresh.Since age 12, Braylin has been lying to her best friend about who she is. At age 19, Shade is tired of being constantly referred to as 'sidekick' and Braylin finds out how appropriate her chosen alias really is.A young bisexual vigilante and her infuriatingly straight superhero best friend go to college together and do what kids do at college: make friends and learn things about themselves - and maybe save the world.





	1. Hospital Cheer

**Author's Note:**

> So, just a story about some young superheros, some of which might be queer. When I started this story about three years ago, it had a completely different plot and a completely different set of characters. 
> 
> I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoy working on it.

The pediatrics’ wing of the hospital, like most pediatrics’ wings, was a little more colorful and a little more cheery than other parts of most hospitals. All kinds of kids were there, sick kids, injured kids, post-surgery kids. Also kids of all ages, toddlers, teenagers, and occasionally a twenty-something.

An eleven year-old girl had her dark brown eyes fixed at the monitor that she was assumed was beeping with every beat of her heart. She couldn’t hear it since her ears were still ringing from the accident several days before. She could also barely see it without her glasses that had been smashed. The nurses and social workers didn’t surprise her anymore, but the girl about her age with a bouquet of “get well” balloons and a large pizza was a little shocking.

“Do I know you?” Whether or not she knew the girl, the pizza was definitely welcome.

“Nope. I get bored so sometimes I skip school and bring sick kids pizza, or cake, or teddy bears.” She dropped the weight on the balloons next to the bed and sat in the rocking chair. Luckily, voices were easier to hear than the noises that all the machines should’ve been making. “I’m Braylin.”

“Aspen.” She was still eyeing the pizza as she moved her short, blonde hair out of her eyes with the hand without the I.V.

“I know: they put the patient names on the doors here in pediatrics.” Braylin shrugged and sat the pizza on the rolling tray. “Anyway, are you hungry?”

“Does it matter, with the food they serve here?” Aspen smiled as the tray was rolled towards her.

“There are a few slices missing. I had one and the nurses had to work through their lunch.”

“I couldn’t eat an entire pizza in one sitting if I tried.” She pulled out a slice and ate it graciously. Braylin looked like she didn’t know what to do with that information, like she had in fact finished an entire pizza by herself before.

Braylin stayed until the nurses kicked her out at the close of visiting hours. They talked about unimportant stuff, mostly about school, fashion trends, and TV shows. It was a nice distraction for Aspen. It was good to get her mind off the constant scrutiny of the doctors and nurses and the questions for the social workers.

Braylin came back the next day, with ice cream and a teddy bear. “It reminded me of you.”

Aspen raised one of her eyebrows, looking at the pale yellow bear and then her sun-darkened skin. She could see better since the social workers had finally gotten her new glasses, cheap and thick rimmed.

“Its fur is the same color as your hair.” She grinned at her, a crooked grin that Aspen at noticed the day before. Braylin was paler than she was, and had dark red-brown hair. Mossy green eyes under thick eyebrows, all over the freckles that dotted her nose and cheeks. She had an air of confidence that Aspen herself had never known, but she couldn’t help but smile back.

After they both had finished their first bowl of ice cream, Aspen noticed Braylin staring at her strangely. “What?”

“What happened anyway?” Braylin frowned, obviously knowing that she wasn’t approaching the subject delicately. “Usually the nurses tell me something when I come by, but they just said you were in an accident.”

Sighing, Aspen pushed the tray away and looked out the window. “It happened so fast, my parents were arguing and they didn’t notice it…”

“Notice what?”

“The chemical tanker in the middle of the highway, stopped and leaking. We crashed right into it. I was thrown, since I was sitting in the middle seat and not wearing a seat belt. As I was flying, I heard the explosion…”

“How badly were you hurt?” The condolences were implied.

“Honestly? Not that bad… A broken leg, a little bit of nerve damage that they’ll say will heal… they’re mostly worried about the fact that I landed in the puddle of the chemical.”

Braylin nodded and stood up, walking over to the edge of the bed. She took the chart from where it was hanging and started flipping through the pages. Aspen raised an eyebrow at her.

“I’m actually well versed in medical jargon.”

Every day after that, until Aspen was released with a diagnosis of a shrug and a confused grunt, Braylin visited. She didn’t always bring food or gifts, but her being there was a pretty good gift as it was.

An even better gift was when she stuck around after she was moved into foster care. She’d show up after school in her prep-school uniform with a can of spray paint and a terrible idea. By the time they made it to high school, Braylin transferred around to the many public schools in the city with Aspen.


	2. Aspen and Braylin

“Braylin.” She could hear her name being called somewhere above her. It hurt to move and there was an odd cold-burning sensation on her side. “Braylin.”

“I’m alive.” Braylin managed to say, through it was raspy as if she hadn’t quite caught her breath. Opening her eyes, her sight was a little blurry, but she could tell that it was her best friend leaning over her.

Aspen sighed happily as she but her facemask back up to cover her lips and nose. “We need to go; the cops are on their way.”

“If we’re the heroes, how comes we always have to run?” Sitting up was difficult, but she managed. Standing was something she couldn’t do without Aspen’s help. “Need to find the sword and gun, lost them in the-…”

Her vision was mostly back so she looked down at what the other girl had in her hand that hadn’t helped her up.

“Can we go now?” Aspen looked around. “Your glasses fell off so we need to…”

Braylin reached up to her face, finding the aviators that she usually used to disguise herself were no longer on her face. Rolling her eyes in annoyance, she grabbed her things, putting them into their proper holsters. “We flying out?”

With a roll of her own eyes, Aspen wrapped her arm around her friend’s waist and started as if she were running upstairs, into thin air. “It’s not flying. And we need to get you to a doctor.”

“I’m fine.” Her head was feeling lighter as they got higher.

“Try telling that to the giant gash in your side.” Aspen kept climbing; not looking at her friend as she awkwardly supported her.

“Oh, so that’s the wet sensation on my side, figures. Why is this my life?” Braylin threw her head back, mock sobbing.

“If I remember correctly, you’re the one that convinced me to do this stupid superhero thing when we first found out about my powers.”

“Yeah, but you’re a superhero, I’m a vigilante with a blunted longsword and a stun gun.”

“And those expensive kung-fu classes in China.”

“It was Japan.” Braylin took a deep breath. “And I think I’m starting to feel that blood loss, fuck…”

“You’re a lot heavier than you look, we’re going as fast as we can, hold on.”

“Nope, cannot. Gunna pass out…”

Aspen started swearing up a storm as she tried going faster, grunting with the extra effort. “Why couldn’t it be super strength too?”

When Braylin woke up later, she heard someone banging around her kitchen. She started to sit up and grunted at the pain in her side. “Aspen!”

When the blonde came into view, she leaned against the doorway. “That’s the worst you’ve ever been hurt, either of us have been hurt. You’re getting reckless.”

“You’re getting really good at stitching people up.” Braylin grinned at her, sitting up more slowly this time.

“That would be great Braylin, if I wanted to be a nurse or a doctor. I want to be a graphic designer. I want to make billboards and internet ads.” Aspen took a few steps into the room. “The bad guys keep getting more dangerous and they don’t go easy on us anymore. Hands that literally turn into blades? What the hell is that about?”

“They were younger than we are, maybe even younger than we were when we started.” Braylin rested her head back.

“You were going easy on them.” Aspen crossed her arms, glaring at her friend. “If I recall, you’re the one always preaching about the line.”

“I don’t go easy on anyone. Were you just rearranging my kitchen, or were you making us something to eat?”

“I was going to, but you have expired milk, Cocoa Puffs, soda, and half a stick of butter.” Aspen couldn’t help but smile as she walked closer to her friend. “You can afford a pent house apartment by yourself, but you can’t afford food for your fridge?”

“I’m never home.” Braylin shrugged.

“You graduated two years ago and have turned down full rides from all of the ivy leagues.”

“I’m waiting to see where you get accepted and go there.” She grinned at her friend, who rolled her eyes. “I’m sorry I’m so dependent on you.”

“I applied to six colleges and I’ve gotten rejected from five, just waiting for one more.” Aspen sighed, sitting on the bed next to her friend. “I’ve got until I graduate from high school until I get my own place, which is generous. My foster parents could’ve kicked me out when I turned 18.”

“You know you can always stay here, I’ll even charge you rent if it makes you feel better.”

“I guess you could probably use the company.”

“Nah, I was thinking about installing an AI, so who really needs real human companionship.” Braylin waved her hand dismissively.

Aspen opened her mouth to say something, but instead just stood up. “How does pizza sound?”

“There’s money in the thing by the door.” Braylin called as Aspen walked out of the room to call the pizza place.

While Aspen did that, Braylin managed to get out of bed, with no small amount of swearing. She managed to get to her bathroom, holding her side. Her hand was getting moist so she must have popped a stitch.

Her arms were riddled with smaller cuts which were mostly healed. There was a small cut that would definitely scar on her left cheek. Her fingers without the blood traced the cut and she sighed. Leaning against the sink, she pulled off her shirt. Bruises of various sizes decorated her entire torso. The wound on her stomach as almost six inches long. It was amazing that she was still alive.

And the wound was bleed again. She poked at it with the hand that was already covered in blood, swearing at the immense pain that surge through her at the touch. After she had blinked away the tears, opened the medicine cabinet to pull out the stuff to fix the stitches and make the wound water proof.

When Aspen heard the shower start running in the bathroom, she sighed and tried to find something on TV that wasn’t news about them.

“Feel better?” Aspen asked, turning off the TV, as Braylin walked into the living room, her hair dripping wet and in fresh clothes. Blood was already starting to seep through her shirt though. The remote dropped out of her hand when she saw the blood.

Braylin side and sat next to her. “I’m fine. It’s not like I can just lay around until I heal…

“You can. You’re unemployed and have unlimited funds.” Aspen sighed, opening the pizza box on the coffee table and handing her friend a slice.

“Thanks.” Braylin hummed with pleasure as she took the first bite of the pizza. “And they’re not unlimited.”

Aspen chuckled. “Whatever.”

Braylin glanced at the clock next to the TV. “Turn it back on. There’s a Batman marathon tonight.”

Opening and closing her mouth a few times, Aspen eventually turned on the TV and changed to the correct channel.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Seriously, where the fuck does Braylin get money?


	3. Acceptance

Braylin grunted in pain as she set down her box in her spare bedroom. It had been two days since Aspen had graduated high school, and almost three weeks since their big fight with the villain with the razor hands.

Aspen looked over at her friend and gasped, dropping both of the boxes she had been carrying. Braylin was bleeding.

When she lifted up her best friend’s shirt, she immediately dropped it. Her eyes tried to meet Braylin’s, but the older girl wouldn’t meet her eyes. “It shouldn’t still be like this! It looks like it hasn’t healed at all.”

“It’s fine.” Braylin grabbed Aspen’s hand when she turned to leave the room. “I’ll be fine. It’s just taking a while to heal, that’s all.”

That just made Aspen angry. “You’ve been fighting! We’ve been in two fights since you got hurt! Why didn’t you tell me you weren’t healing?”

Braylin swallowed hard. “I didn’t want to stop… I-I…”

“I can’t believe you!” She yelled at her friend, making her take a step back. “You… Are you so low on self-esteem that you need to constantly save people? Or are you just addicted to the adrenaline rush of fighting?”

Without answering, Braylin left the room. Aspen’s eyes went wide as she watched her leave. She expected to hear the slam of the other bedroom, but the rattle of the chain meant that she had left the apartment. Swearing, she looked down at the boxes and figured she’d give the other girl some space for a few minutes while she unpacked her few items.

When she finished, she found Braylin exactly where she had expected her. On the roof, looking out over the small city they lived in. It was getting dark, but the lights of the city made it impossible to see anything other than satellites.

Aspen didn’t say anything, but she set the first aid kit next to Braylin, who snorted and uncurled herself, laying back.

“Fuck!” Braylin said, flinching when the poked through her skin. This one wound had gotten more stitches than most people go in a lifetime.

“Sorry.” Aspen whispered, her hand shaking slightly. The wound had stopped bleeding, until Aspen went poking at it. “And sorry about what I said earlier.”

“No.” Braylin bit her lip as the needle poked through again. “You’re right. I don’t know which one… maybe it was both… I don’t know… but you’re right…”

“Wow, that must’ve hurt.”

Whimpering, Braylin closed her eyes. “Shut up.”

They didn’t talk through the rest of the stitches. Braylin hissed when the alcohol wipe made contract. “You’re going to tell me that I need to stop though.”

“You don’t need to stop, but you need to take a break. If you get hurt more on top of this wound, you’re going to die.” Aspen helped Braylin up after liberally applying gaze pads over the wound.

Braylin took a deep breath as she stood up, not looking at her friend again.

“Just tell me why, why you can’t stop? Why is doing this more important than your life?” She put her hands on her friend’s shoulders, trying to make her look her in the eyes.

“I can’t… please…” Braylin closed her eyes tightly, her body tensing up. Aspen hugged her tightly, but carefully.

“I’m sorry, just promise me you’ll stay out of the fight until you heal. I need you.”

Before Braylin could say anything, her phone started ringing. Aspen pulled back and watched her friend pull it from her pocket with a sigh. “It’s the walking ATM, could you…?”

“Yeah, I’ll meet you back in the room. There’s something I want to show you.”

With a nod, Braylin turned away and answered the phone with “Hey Old Fart, nah, I’m peachy.”

Aspen frowned at her before leaving the roof.

It was several minutes before Braylin joined her back in their apartment. She walked into Aspen’s room, holding her side. Aspen looked up from her phone with a smile. “You okay? You seem out of it?”

Braylin hummed as she sat on the corner of the bed. “He just wants me to come visit for a while. I haven’t seen him since I graduated, so he just…”

“You should go. I know you and your godfather aren’t really close, but he obviously cares about you.” Aspen scooted closer. “And _don’t_ worry about me. I’ll be fine, I promise. It’ll be what, a week or two?”

She nodded, glancing at her friend. “Yeah, I’ll go. But you’re sure you’re going to be okay?”

“Totally. I’ll rummage through your room and rearrange the kitchen.” Aspen grinned at her, getting a punch on the shoulder for the comment. She rubbed her arm as she stood up. “But there’s something I want to show you.”

When Aspen came back after rummaging through the box that was on the desk in the corner, she placed an envelope into Braylin’s hand. She looked at it, seeing the sender in the corner.

“Angelwood University…” Braylin pulled out the letter and smiled at Aspen when she finished reading over it. “You got in.”

“It’s a pretty small college, and it’s only like an hour away… And they’re giving me a scholarship…” Aspen was smiling, her face flushed slightly. “You probably haven’t heard of it…”

“No, I have. It’s where my parents went.” Braylin looked down at the paper and Aspen’s smile fell.

In the seven years they had known each other, Aspen didn’t think that Braylin ever mentioned her parents. She knew that the other girl’s parents were still alive, but they weren’t in contact. Occasionally, she mentioned her godfather, but never her actual parents. Aspen always wanted to talk about her own parents but because of Braylin not talking about hers she tried to keep it to a minimum.

“I’ll apply tomorrow. We can go together.” Braylin handed the envelope back to Aspen. “Are you hungry? I’m starving.”

“Do you actually have food in your kitchen?” Aspen crossed her arms, looking skeptically.

Braylin played mock hurt as she stood up. “I got some frozen pizzas to make for dinner.”

Aspen couldn’t help but roll her eyes as she headed out into the kitchen. She heard Braylin swear behind her as she started to follow her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apparently these girls literally only eat pizza. They should expand their culinary horizons.


	4. The Domino Effect

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There is, sadly, no mention of pizza this chapter. Next chapter they'll actually be starting college.

Braylin had been gone for two weeks, and Aspen would be lying if she said that she didn’t miss her best friend. She had been working long hours at a local restaurant to try to save up for some dorm stuff. There were a few other people that she hung out with from high school, so it wasn’t like she was completely alone, but that big penthouse apartment was lonely without her roommate.

With Braylin gone, she hadn’t been fighting as much crime. It was mostly petty things that she helped stop, but big crises, she couldn’t handle them without her partner. Aspen may have had the superpowers, but Braylin was a fighter and a strategist. It felt wrong to fight without her.

She’d be getting back in the next few days, but Aspen kept looking over at Braylin’s door while she was in the living room. Not long after Braylin had left, Aspen tried to look in there for something, but the door was locked. There was at least two thousand dollars just shoved in random drawers around the kitchen, but Braylin felt the need to lock her bedroom door. It made Aspen feel uneasy. She had been in her room hundreds of times, but it was clear that Braylin trying to hide something big and she couldn’t trust Aspen with whatever it was.

When she was waiting around for Braylin at the airport, she wanted to bring it up to her, but she also didn’t want to ruin their reunion. As she watched Braylin come walking out with her suitcase, she smiled and knew that she would talk about it later.

The hug was long and tight. Aspen wasn’t sure if Braylin was ever going to let go, but she eventually did.

“So, how’s your godfather?” Aspen asked as she took the suitcase out of her friend’s hand.

“He’s doing good. Still rich, still worried about me, still doesn’t know how to cook.” Braylin grinned at her. “You do anything fun?”

“Hung out with some of our other friends, worked a lot.” Aspen shrugged. “A little crime fighting.”

“We have other friends?” The confusion on Braylin’s face was completely genuine, which broke Aspen’s heart.

“How’s your side?” She changed the subject and Braylin looked away.

“It’s better, it’s healing, but it’s still… I only popped the stitches once while I was away though, that’s something.”

Aspen stared at her for a while before nodding. “You got a letter from Angelwood while you were gone.”

Braylin grinned, but her eyes weren’t smiling. “He tried to talk me out of going to Angelwood, without much of an argument, but…”

“So, are you not going to come to college with me? I mean, you transferred high school half a dozen times just to stay with me.” Aspen knew she’d be fine if she didn’t have Braylin. Despite her lack of self-confidence, she had a much easier time making friends than Braylin did. It probably had something to do with Braylin’s affluenza.

“No, I still am. His argument was severely lacking. It’s a good thing he’s not a lawyer.” Braylin shrugged. “Where’d you park?”

Aspen rolled her eyes, walking a few steps ahead of Braylin. “I got valet. I’ve been getting valet parking everywhere I’ve gone since you left.”

She laughed when she heard Braylin complain about the valet taking a joyride or dinging the paint on her car.

Braylin had been back for almost a week. She hadn’t gone out with Aspen on any superhero gigs, but Aspen could tell that she really wanted to. Her bedroom door was left open whenever she was home, but if she left Aspen there alone, it was always locked.

Aspen hadn’t figured out how to bring it up to her. Braylin had been letting her live with her free of charge and paying for food and letting her use her car. She knew her friend was a private person, but she thought that if Braylin didn’t trust her then maybe she couldn’t completely trust Braylin.

But it wasn’t the best time to dwell on how trustworthy her best friend is. The current fight, should have just been a routine hostage situation, but the person holding them hostage was much more dangerous than she originally had expected. Most of the common criminals in the city had stopped showing their faces because of her and Braylin.

“So, you’re Silver Remix? Pitiful costume, amateur.” She was a few years older than her, with light blue eyes and dull red hair, and a cruel smile. “Where’s your sidekick?”

She knew that she had broken a few ribs from the things that the villain had haurled at her with her mind.

“You’re in over your head, kid.”

Aspen’s eyes went wide as she watched one of the large desks float in the air and start barreling towards her. She tried to brace herself for impact, knowing that the desk could easily have its course changed. There were foreign thoughts in her head, and it distracted her.

In the next few seconds she was falling to the ground with another body over her. She heard the desk crash against the wall and felt some of the splinters fall on her and the person on top of her.

She looked up to see Braylin in her disguise getting off of her. It was good to see her, since she had been getting her ass kicked, but she was also pissed to see her knowing that she wasn’t completely healed still.

“So, you’re Shade, huh?”

Braylin stance was shaky, like she was unprepared for the fight. “What do you call yourself?”

The older girl let out a bark of laughter. “I am the Unwritten Prophet, and I’ve come to knock over your dominos. Braylin. Lorimer.”

The sound of anger Braylin let out was inhuman as she unsheathed she sword and rushed towards the Unwritten Prophet. Before the sword made contact, the other girl was backing away quickly, until she was disappearing out of the broken window.

“Shade!” Aspen yelled to keep her friend from following her. Braylin stopped, her body shaking. “Help me up, lets get the police and medics get in here to do their jobs.”

Before looking at Aspen, Braylin looked over at the unconscious people lining the far wall without a scratch on them. She didn’t say anything as she pulled Aspen up.

“How did she know your name, your real name?” Aspen asked, frowning when Braylin looked away.

“She was poking around in my head. She was probably poking around in yours too.” Braylin put her sword away. “Come on, we need to get out of here.”


	5. The Single

“You doing okay?” Braylin asked a few days later, walking into Aspen’s room. Aspen had actually managed to stay in bed to heal her wounds. In only a week though, they’d be moving into a college.

“Yeah, just checking out my room information…” Aspen looked up at her with a frown. “I thought we were going to room together.”

“I decided to get a single. I didn’t want you to not make friends or whatever because of my loner ass, and…” Braylin sighed as she leaned on the doorframe. “And I’m used to being alone. Having you here is awesome, but… it’s not… it’s really different.”

With a frown, Aspen looked away. She couldn’t help think that it had to do with the same reason that she kept her bedroom locked.

“I’m in a single on the third floor of Harmony Hall.”

Aspen blinked a few times before looking at the room information on her screen. “Same… My roommate’s name is Laura Fisher. I’m going to Facebook stalk her.”

Braylin stayed in the doorway for a while, listening to Aspen comment on some of the things she found out about Laura. Aspen looked up at her, seeing her look around the room curiously. She wasn’t sure if Braylin had actually been in her room since she had returned from her trip. The words were spilling out of her mouth before she could stop herself.

“Why do you lock your bedroom when you’re not here?”

The look on Aspen’s face made her feel like a complete asshole. The shocked and betrayed look broke Aspen’s heart. And then Braylin turned and left the apartment without a word.

It was two days before Braylin came back to the apartment. She didn’t take the car keys or anything with her. Aspen desperately wanted to know where Braylin went, but she didn’t ask her when she came back in.

“I’m sorry.” Aspen stood at the edge of the kitchen, her head hanging down.

Braylin took a shaky breath. “It’s not that I don’t trust you, it’s just…”

“I shouldn’t have been prying… but I just know so little about you, despite how long we’ve known each other.” Aspen looked up at her, waiting for a reaction from Braylin.

“When I’m ready to face the things I haven’t told you, you’ll be the first person I come to, I promise.”

She nodded, with a small smile on her face. Braylin smiled back at her before heading to her room, opening the door without having to unlock it. She turned and looked at Aspen seriously.

“Thank you.”

“For what?”

“Not asking me where I was.” Braylin closed the door behind her.

The next day, Braylin was sitting at the breakfast bar, staring at her laptop, rubbing her side, and sipping a mug of what smelled like hot chocolate. Aspen grabbed a bowl of cereal before sitting next to her friend, like the last few days didn’t even happen.

“So, I’m looking at some police reports, trying to find out more about _Unwritten Prophet_. She’s been seen in the last few years, usually with the Dark Illusionist.” Braylin turned the computer towards Aspen.

“The Dark Illusionist? Isn’t she one of those old school villains?” Aspen asked as she looked over the screen filled with pictures. All the pictures were of their assailant with an older, blonde woman. The older woman was tall and busty, like definitely had back problems busty, and was wearing a very small amount of clothes. “And didn’t she used to be part of a team? The Visionaries, or something?”

“Yeah, she’s been trying to destroy the world for like 25 years, or something.” Braylin pulled the computer back to look at it. “Whatever she was looking for, it was probably for Dark Illusionist.”

“The Dark Illusionist is way out of league. I mean, Bomb hasn’t been able to get rid of her yet.” Aspen paused and looked at Braylin. “She knows your name. What if she…”

“We’re going to hope that she doesn’t come here, or follow us to school. I’m not looking forward to trying to fight her.” Braylin rubbed the back of her neck. “She probably knows your name too, just didn’t say it.”

“Braylin, she said something else to you, didn’t she? I was a little out of it.” Aspen put her hand on her shoulder, the tension releasing with the touch.

“It didn’t make any sense. I have no idea what she meant.” Braylin held her side. “But I do know that I definitely haven’t healed anymore since the day we fought her.”

“What? Why didn’t you tell me?” Aspen felt anger and worry, which were pretty common when it came to her best friend.

“I didn’t want to worry you. I wanted to focus on your own healing.” Braylin lifted up her shirt. The wound looked like it was sealed, but it still needed more healing. “And it hasn’t reopened at all.”

“Does it hurt?” Aspen touched it gently, making Braylin wince. “I’ll take that as a yes.”

“Aren’t you out of excuses for work?” Braylin put her shirt down.

A few days later, they were waiting in a line of cars outside of their chosen university. There were kids and parents running everywhere, people were covered in sweat from moving things in the heat. Braylin got into an argument about how long they could park next to their dorm building, since there were two of them moving in, they should get more time, obviously. She won.

They moved in Braylin’s things first. Aspen looked around the room. It was small and just seemed lonely. Braylin was looking around too and Aspen wondered how she felt about the room.

Laura had already moved her stuff into her and Aspen’s room and was working on arranging her stuff, with her six different family members. Braylin’s eyes went wide when she went to walk in with one of the boxes. Aspen looked over at her reassuringly, but Braylin just sat the box inside the doorway.

“I’m going to grab your suitcase and then move my car, okay?” Braylin’s voice was shaky.

“Okay, I’ll text you if I go anywhere.” Aspen smiled at her softly. She understood.

Laura looked over at her with a smile, introducing herself and then her mom, dad, sister, aunt, and boyfriend. Aspen smiled at each of them in turn.

“Who was that? Sister?”

“No, my best friend. She’s going to be living down the hall.” Aspen pointed in the direction of Braylin room, not sure what else to do with herself.

She had gotten most of her stuff unpacked by the time that Braylin came back to go with her to the orientation stuff. Braylin didn’t say much as they followed the mob of other freshmen and parents. They were both feeling awkward without having a parent with them. Aspen couldn’t help but wonder whether or not Braylin has asked her godfather to be there with them.

Braylin made funny faces at Aspen during the opening ceremony, making Aspen crack up laughing, getting them shushed by the parents around them. She stopped when they were told to look in the small packet they had gotten earlier that day, groaning when she looked at hers than Aspens. They had different orientation groups.

On the way back to the dorms, Braylin kept groaning. Aspen just laughed at her. “Guess this means you’ll have to make new friends after all. Or else you’re going to be sitting in your orientation group not talking to anyone until Monday. That’s three days from now.”

“I can still hang out without outside of the groups though.” Braylin pouted at her.

“You’re the one who told me you didn’t want to get in my way when it came to making friends.” Aspen grinned at her.

“I hate you.”


	6. Orientated

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> They have food that's not pizza!

“It’s fucking ass-o-clock.” Braylin leaned on the table in the dining hall, absently stirring around her overcooked eggs on her plate. It was actually nine-o-clock in the morning.

“It’s later than waking up for high school.” Aspen’s roommate said with a huge smile, cutting at her rubbery pancake.

“Braylin took a gap year.” Aspen glanced over at Braylin, the other girl looked dead tired. “What time did you go to bed?”

“Firstly, I took two years off, since I graduated early.” She pointed her fork at her best friend. “And I went to bed right after I left your room at 11, but I don’t think I actually got any sleep.”

Laura chuckled slightly as Braylin yawned. “Probably just not used to being away from home. I know we haven’t been here a whole day yet, but I miss my parents.”

Braylin dropped her fork and Aspen sighed, reaching out to her. Before her hand could make contact, the other girl had left without a word. Laura looked at Aspen, the confusion and hurt obvious on her face.

“Braylin and I really don’t have parents.” Aspen looked at where Braylin had left her plate. “Mine died when I was 11 and I don’t know what happened with her parents, but she’s been on her own for as long as I’ve known her. I’ve moved on, but it still eats her up inside.”

“I didn’t mean anything…”

“It’s okay, she’ll… she just needs time to get over it. You didn’t know, she can’t hold it against you.” Aspen stood up. “Come on, we should get to our group.”

There were a few people in the room already, but not many. Aspen recognized some of them from their floor, but had no idea about most of them. Laura was talking and she was nodding occasionally, pretending she cared. It was nice to have someone normal to talk to, but since meeting her, Laura had told Aspen almost her entire life story.

A few minutes later, a girl a few years older than her walked with a cup of coffee and a clipboard filled with papers. Aspen stared at her, tilting her head slightly. She was wearing a Student Senate polo.

“Hello everyone. Unfortunately, your orientation guide couldn’t make it back to campus to meet you guys, but I’m here and I can help you just the same.” She took a cleansing breath before sitting on the table in the front of the classroom. “I’m going to introduce myself first and then we’re going to around and introduce all of you. We’ll be meeting a few times in the next few weeks, so it’s best to know each other.”

The hoard of freshmen all stared at her and she grimaced slightly before putting a smile back on. “I’m Nami Kato, I’m from San Francisco. I’m a junior political science major. I’m also the president of the student senate, so I help to oversee all the clubs on campus and to address any student concerns.”

Nami was objectively pretty, Aspen made sure to note that since it would be one of the first things Braylin asked, with olive skin and huge eyes. Her eyes were dark brown, with a slight orange hue with the light hit them right. She looked tired, but she was smiling at them sincerely. She had long, curly, brunette hair. It wasn’t quite as long as Braylin’s though.

Aspen flinched slightly when she noticed that Nami was staring right at her. She cleared her throat. “I’m Apsen Martenez, a graphic design major. I’m from Dansdrow, which is a small city about an hour away from here.”

Once Nami nodded and turned to look at someone else, Aspen couldn’t help wonder how Braylin was doing – if she even made it to her meeting.

Braylin had made it to her session was blinking absently at her orientation guide. A light skinned black guy with long dread, and the most pitiful goatee she had ever seen. His eyes looked yellow, at least the one not covered by the eyepatch did. There was also a small scar on his lip that she was focusing on the most. He had introduced himself as Jared Persky, but hadn’t mentioned his year or major, or anything else, but had somehow not shut up since he walked into the room.

“I’m Kyle, Kyle Combs.” The red haired boy sitting next to her said quietly. “Do you think he’s going to stop talking before we have to go to the next event?”

She glanced at him without turning her head. He was a basic white boy, cute but not remotely interesting. The kind of guy that Aspen would set her sights on. “If it’ll get us out of the alcohol and sex program, he can talk all day.”

Kyle grinned at her, turning to nudge the boy he had walked in with. The other boy looked younger, with an undercut and thick black glasses. There was a long scar between his dark blue eyes.

The other boy just glared at Kyle. Kyle frowned before looking back at Braylin. “My roommate, Theo.”

“It’s Theodore!” The other boy huffed. “Theodore Raine.”

“What’s your name?” Kyle tilted his head slightly.

“Braylin Lorimer.” She sighed, wishing he would just stop talking to her.

“Where’s your roommate?”

“I have a single.”

Jared finally took a pause and then let out a panicked gasp. “Sorry guys, you need to get to your next thing…” He picked up the balled up piece of paper on the front desk before telling them exactly where they need to go.

Unfortunately for Braylin, Kyle was following her and dragging Theo along. Aspen was waiting outside of the auditorium, Laura had gone inside with some of the other kids from their floor.

“You made friends.” Aspen looked at the two boys, completely shocked.

“They made friends with me.” Braylin huffed out.

“I’m Kyle.” He held his hand out to Aspen, a small pink hue was seen on his face.

“Aspen.” She took his hand, laughing nervously. “Thanks for taking pity on my best friend.”

“Can we just go inside and get this over with?” Braylin tossed her head back with a groan. Aspen and Kyle both chuckled before heading inside.

Kyle stayed with Aspen and Braylin through the rest of their free time. Theo rushed back off to his room the second that he was allowed to.

“So, you guys were friends before college? Did you go to high school together?” Kyle asked as they were walking around the quad.

“Yes?” Aspen replied, a question in her voice as she looked at Braylin, who rolled her eyes.

“We met before high school. I eventually transferred to her school because I’m… what do you call it Aspen?” Braylin looked at her friend with a slight grin.

“Worryingly dependent on me?”

Kyle looked between them, then smiled at them sweetly. Braylin groaned, putting her hand in his face. “I’d like to return this.”

“Sorry Braylin, I don’t think you can return something that just decided to follow you, you might be stuck with him.” Aspen grinned at her. “You might have to start telling people that you have two friends.”

“There goes the bitchy-friendless persona I’ve been working towards my entire life.”


	7. Floor Meeting

“So, how’d you sleep in here last night?” Aspen asked as she sat on Braylin’s bed. Her roommate had ditched her to party and Kyle wanted to spend time with his own roommate. Braylin stopped rocking in her chair to look at her friend with a shrug.

“I’m going to get a new mattress. But, it’s not too bad. What about you?”

“Honestly, I was so used to sharing a room in foster care that I was kind of… better than the huge room at your place.”

“ _Our_ place.”

“Are we married?” Aspen wanted to sounded annoyed, but just ended up looking at the other girl fondly.

“Basically.” Snorting, Braylin wiggled her eyebrows at her best friend. “I’d even go as far as soulmates.”

“You believe in soulmates?”

“You can manipulate sound waves and walk on air, and you _don’t_ believe in soulmates?”

“Fair enough. So, we’re soulmates.” Aspen chuckled, glancing over at the door. They had shut it most of the way, leaving it just open enough that people wouldn’t be afraid of coming in to talk to them but that they wouldn’t just be able to barge in on their odd conversations. There was a small knock as it opened. One of their male floor mates waved at them sheepishly.

“The floor meeting is starting so…”

Braylin and Aspen glanced at each other before moving into the hallway, sitting close to each other in front of Braylin’s door. They glanced down the hall, everyone was sitting but one person.

Their RA was a dark skinned boy with too much gel in his black hair. His ears were both pierced with simple studs and he was wearing tie and sweater-vest. When he started talking, Braylin grimaced at high pitched his voice initially was.

“Hi, I’m Cal-…” He cleared his throat and let out a nervous laugh. His voice was a few octaves lower when he continued. “Sorry, this is my first year as an RA, I’m a little nervous. I’m Calum Brown. I’m a senior and a computer science major. I’m in room 308 if you need anything any time.”

Aspen glanced at Braylin as Calum droned on about school policies and his personal expectations. They both groaned when he mentioned going around and introducing themselves.

After Calum finally released them, reminding them that they had an early day the next day, Aspen and Braylin both stood up, fully prepared to go back to their conversation. Calum walked over to them with a smile.

“Braylin. Aspen.” He pointed at them when he said their names. “I don’t remember meeting you guys yesterday, you must’ve snuck around me.”

“Must’ve.” Braylin looked at him, her arms crossed and her lips pressed into a line. Aspen elbowed her in the side, getting a wince from her friend.

“Sorry,” She said to Braylin, forgetting that the wound still wasn’t healing. “Uh, yeah, I don’t remember seeing you around much yesterday.”

“I got to most of the rooms, what rooms are you guys in?”

Braylin pointed behind her and Calum nodded.

“Ah, singles. They usually don’t get much social interaction, no wonder I didn’t get to meet you.”

“Shut up.” Braylin didn’t even have to look at Aspen to know that she was silently mocking her.

“I’m in 312, Laura is my roommate.”

“Oh, I must’ve been in there before you moved in. There were so many people and so much stuff when she moved in, I assumed you were already here.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “Anyway, let me know if you guys have any problems, okay? Classes, or with the building. Anything.”

“You got it.” Braylin gave him finger guns before retreating into her room. Calum looked at Aspen with confusion, but she just shrugged and followed her inside.

“Wow, I think he was more awkward than you.” Aspen grinned at Braylin, who glared at her. “You gave him the finger guns?”

“I panicked and really just wanted to stop talking to him.” Braylin had nested against her mound of pillows, she buried her face into one. “What time is it?”

“Late enough. You want me to leave so you can go to bed?”

“I probably won’t get to sleep anyway.” She let out a breath.

Aspen got on the bed with her, poking her knee. “You could go to the ATM and pull out some money. Maybe you just need the scent of the green stuff to put you to sleep.”

“Why are you like this?”

“I’m not allowed to tease you? You tease me constantly.” Aspen pouted slightly.

“Yes. Because I’m hilarious. Your jokes suck.”

“I’m glad someone thinks you’re funny Bray.”

“Get out of my room.” Braylin smiled as she wacked Aspen with one of her pillow. Aspen grinned back at her as she put her hands up to block. Once Braylin stopped, she sighed. “Seriously, get out. I think I will _try_ to get some sleep.”

“Okay, night Braylin. We’re meeting Kyle and Theo for breakfast before our meetings tomorrow.”

“Whyyyyyyyyyy?” Braylin mocked sobbed as Aspen walked out, shutting the door behind her.

Aspen laid in her bed with a satisfied moan. It was the first time she had really had all day to just relax in her new bed. Laura was still out, would probably be loud when she came in so there wasn’t a lot of use in actually trying to sleep. But lying awake in bed never lead to good things. She rolled over and grabbed her phone off the set of drawers that was serving as a nightstand.

She had scrolling through Pinterest for a while before her phone buzzed with a text.

‘ **Go to sleep** ’

It was from Braylin of course. She was probably getting notifications that had just shared the entire contents of dog-centric facebook page a few minutes ago.

‘ **If you were asleep you wouldnt know I was up** ’

‘ **were soulmates I feel you always** ’

‘ **I take it back. I dont want to be soulmates** ’

‘ **there are no take backs on soulmates Aspen** ’

Aspen smiled at her phone. They used to always text each other until one of them just couldn’t stay awake. It had been awhile since they had done this, but Aspen didn’t know that she had missed it until she replied again and again, her eyes getting tired. Maybe getting separate rooms would be good for at least one thing.


	8. The Club Fair

“Come on Braylin. Sign up for a club. You need to sign up for at least one club.” Aspen said as she finished signing up for the theatre club.

Braylin glanced at Kyle. “Why do I need to sign up for clubs? I already made a new friend.”

“What are you going to do while Kyle and I aren’t around?” Aspen turned to look at her, putting a hand on her hip.

“Same thing I always do, wait for you to get back.”

Kyle doubled over laughing and Aspen huffed. “I hate you.”

“They say that people who join clubs do better in school, there has to be something you’re interested in.” Kyle smiled at her as they walked around the quad, looking at the tables lined up and decorated to entice the freshmen into walking over to them. “Like, I’m going to join the MMA club.”

“MMA club?” Braylin raised an eyebrow at him.

“Mixed Martial Arts?”

“You can’t join that.” Aspen groaned, getting an odd look from Kyle.

“I’m a black belt. She’s worried that I’m literally going to kill someone.” Braylin sighed, crossing her arms.

“Well, maybe you could help other people train, or something?” Kyle shrugged, walking over to a table for gun enthusiasts.

“Why don’t you join the RPG club, or something?” Aspen motioned over to the table manned by a twenty year old that was already balding, a thin girl with unkempt hair, and an older looking man wearing a tribly.

“Okay.” Braylin walked over without saying a word to any of the people, put her name and email on their paper. She grinned at Aspen as she walked back over.

“I was kidding you know.”

“I think we should both join the MMA club. You need to work on your fighting skills.” Braylin grabbed her arm, moving on without Kyle. Kyle glanced at them, yelling for them to wait for him.

“So, where is Theo today? He’s being even more antisocial than Braylin.” Aspen asked once the three of them were in her dorm.

“That’s saying something.” Braylin said from where she was sitting in front of the fan, hogging all the air flow.

“He didn’t even respond when I invited him out this morning. I don’t know, he’s pretty introverted. I’m trying really hard to be his friend…” Kyle sighed, sounding like it was an absolute horror that they hadn’t become friends.

“I don’t think me and Laura are going to become close friends.” Aspen shrugged, glancing over at her roommate’s disorganized side of the room.

“But she’s made other friends. I haven’t seen Theo talk to anyone else all weekend.” Braylin turned away from the fan, frowning. “I at least talk to other people.”

“And you do such a great job, Bray.” Aspen’s tone was the same as one used to talk to dogs. Braylin’s frown turned to an unimpressed glare.

“You guys fight like a married couple.” Kyle smiled at them. They both groaned, rolling their eyes. “But what should I do? I’m worried about him?”

“If he doesn’t want to make friends, you can’t make him. Trying too hard is just going to make him hate you.” Braylin shrugged, looking back towards the fan. Aspen smiled at her friend sadly.

“Okay, I guess you’re right.” Kyle’s shoulders dropped, looking at Aspen. Aspen turned towards him and smiled.

“In other news, you ready for classes tomorrow?” Aspen rolled her eyes when Braylin groaned.

“I’m still waiting for one my textbooks in the mail.” Kyle sighed, leaning back in the desk chair. “I hope it gets here soon, I was supposed to have already read the first two chapters according to the email I got earlier.”

Aspen laughed as she glanced at her pile of textbooks on her desk. “Wow, that sucks. You’ll just have to catch up on readings when you get it.”

“You have everything you need?”

“Yeah, Braylin made sure that I was over prepared for class. Three different packs of highlighters.” Aspen looked over at Braylin, who was staring at her phone.

“I know how much you like to highlight your notes.” Braylin shrugged.

“The only thing you bought for yourself was a pack of cheap ball points and single spiral notebook.”

“I’m an English major. What exactly am I supposed to take notes on?”

“Maybe you’re calc class? Did you even buy the text book?”

“Nope.”

Kyle did a double take of Braylin. “Why are you taking calculus? Do you even need it?”

“Nope.”

“Then why…”

“Trying to get her to explain it is just going to make your head hurt.” Aspen laid back on her bed. “It doesn’t make any sense to me.”

There was a knock on the doorframe and the three all turned to look at Calum standing in the doorway. “Hey, some of the floor are watching a movie in the longue, just seeing if you guys wanted to join.”

“What movie?” Braylin all but purred, leaning on the back of the chair. Aspen looked at her friend strangely.

“Uh, _The Notebook_?” Calum looked scared to answer.

“I love that movie!” Kyle and Aspen said at the same time.

Braylin hummed in disappointment. “I’ll pass.” She got up, gently pushing Calum out of the way so she could leave.

“Is she always like that?” Calum asked as Kyle and Aspen followed him down the stairs to the building’s common room.

“That was her being friendly.” Aspen smiled to herself.

“Yikes.”

 

Braylin leaned against the inside of her door. She gripped her phone tightly before looking down at the screen. A live video of a group robbing a bank was still playing on her dashboard. Her side throbbed as she threw her phone her bed and she rummaged to the back of her closet, pulling out her crimefighting outfit.

“Aspen’s going to kill me.” She put the suit on anyway.

Her eyes fell on the phone on her bed as she positioned herself to jump out of the window. It lit up with a notification, probably a text from her best friend, begging her to come downstairs and socialize. With a grimace, Braylin put on the aviators she used to haphazardly hide her identity and stepped out of the window.


	9. The Virus

Aspen had sent a few texts to Braylin as some of the girls from her floor were fighting with the TV, but Braylin hadn’t responded to any of them. She finally sighed, putting her phone down. Braylin had earned some alone time, she had been uncharacteristically social since they got to college. The other girl was probably burnt out.

The movie had barely started when Calum’s phone started ringing. He groaned as he answered it. He listened without saying much, then stood up as he shoved the phone back in his pocket. Quietly apologizing, he left the room.

 

Braylin had made it to the bank, there was a police line that she knew she wouldn’t be able to cross. Sneaking in seemed like the most sensible option, the police and the bad guys always seemed to forget about back doors.

There were five bank robbers and at least a dozen hostages. One of the bank guards was on the ground, unconscious. It looked like the robbers all had some like extreme Taser. Braylin took a deep breath before unsheathing her sword and walking into the open.

“Come on guys, you think you’re going to get out of here?” She said, her voice the usual brash tone she let it take on when she was on the job.

“Never seen you before girly, you a new superhero?” One of the bank robbers laughed, one of the ones with a real gun.

“Super? No. Hero, maybe. But whatever I am, you’re going with the police, one way or another.” A smirk fell across her face as she watched the unarmed one run towards her. She smacked him in the face with the pommel of her sword. He fell to the ground, holding his face. “Really?”

The one with the real gun started shoot at her. Several of the hostages all screamed as she quickly moved behind one the closest solid object. “Fucking kids, they all think they’re real vigilantes.”

“Well, if you’re trying to add murder to your list of charges here, you’re doing a good job.” Braylin yelled back at them as she looked down at herself. She had quiet been quick enough, her leg was bleeding.

She still had to fight. Once she walked into the building, she had no choice but to complete her mission, even if she was injured, even if the choice to walk in was stupid. And it was stupid. She was so stupid for walking in alone.

There were footsteps nearing where she was. Two from the right and one from the left. The one that had done all of the talking so far was yelling at a hostage who had apparently pulled out a cell phone. She pressed on the wound on her leg before getting up, launching herself over the desk to kick the single attacker square in the chest. It was the same guy she had already hit.

He hit the ground with an ‘omph’ and the other two paused when she landed. She looked over at them, readjusting the grip on her sword.

“You just going to stand there, or are we going to have a good time?” She grinned at them. They looked at each other before running towards her.

The one had a Taser, which she focused on. It took a few hits to knock it out of the man’s hand. A few more hits to knock the other one to the ground. Her leg was throbbing in pain, but she ignored it as kept whacking at the bank robber with the broadside of the sword.

One of the men that she had knocked to the ground had managed to grab the fallen Taser and held it against her ankle. She screamed out in pain as she fell to ground, the sword falling out of her hand. The aviators slide off her face as she laid on the floor, trying to catch her breath.

“She’s still awake.” There were hands pulling at her hair and she found herself being pulled off the ground, the muzzle of a gun on her cheek. “You’ve been tased before, kid.”

 “A couple times, yeah.” She glared at the man.

“Still cocky with a gun in your face. This attitude of yours is going to get you killed someday.” He chuckled, moving the gun out of her face.

“Not today though.” Another voice said from somewhere close to front door. Then a throwing star lodged itself into the man’s eye. Braylin’s eyes went wide, then she called out in pain as the bullet fired by the man reflexively pulling the trigger grazed her neck. She fell to the ground again, holding her now bleeding neck.

She managed to stand up and watch the new-comer fight the remaining bank robbers. He seemed familiar as two of the bank robbers Tased him from different sides. The electricity seemed to crackle around his body before his eyes glowed behind his goggles. After the sparks dissipated, the fight was over quickly with the masked hero walking over to her with a shocked look on his face.

“Braylin?” He reached out to put his gloved hand over hers. “What the hell are you doing here?”

Braylin squinted her eyes, looking at the man in front of her carefully. “Calum? You have got to be kidding me.”

“We need to get you medical attention. I’m going to go tell the police that they’re clear, wait for me out back, okay?” He moved his hand away, heading back out the main enterence. Braylin suddenly felt lightheaded as she bent down to grab her sword and glasses.

She was going to pass out soon, she was hyper aware of the this as she leaned against the wall, waiting for her RA. He finally came around and sighed as he moved the goggles off his face.

“When you said that you were in charge of your residents’ safety, I bet this isn’t what you had in mind, huh?” She managed to smirk at him.

He rolled his eyes but nodded. Calum started talking, but Braylin was in the process of passing out and falling towards him while he was talking. Swearing, he managed to pick her up.

When Braylin woke up later, she was lying in an unfamiliar room. Her neck and leg were both burning and her entire body ached. Typical. There were voices outside the door, which was cracked slightly. One of them was Calum.

“Hey!” She called out as she tried to claw the IV out of her arm. The voices stopped and the door swung open.

“You’re awake.” Calum sounded relieved.

“You took quiet a beating there, young lady.” An older man, probably in his mid-forties or so, came in behind Calum. He was small statured, pale, and was wearing a stained lab coat with a small yellow hexagon on the shoulders. “You’re lucky that we were already sending The Virus in when we were.”

“‘The Virus’?” Braylin looked at Calum, who just grimaced. She looked back at the man again. “I’m in one of those superhero management places aren’t I? Is yours with the government?”

“Yes, we have authority from the FBI. You can call me Bernard.” He smiled at her.

“Can I talk to someone in charge?” Braylin looked at Calum again, who cleared his throat and nodded his head towards his companion.

“I am the head of the Combs Institute.”

“I’ve never heard of it.” Braylin crossed her arms, looking at the man suspiciously. “Can I leave, or…?”

“That depends.” A woman walked in the room. She was very serious looking, wearing a suit. There was something familiar about her face, about the way she was standing.

“On what?” Braylin’s eyes went to the badge on the woman’s hip. The FBI liaison.

“On how you answer some questions.”


	10. Interrogation

“Braylin Lorimer, you’ll be 19 in September. You graduated high school with a 4.7 GPA two years ago, despite numerous behavioral problems, even getting expelled from two different school. Colombia and MIT both gave you full scholarships for their engineering programs, but you’re currently an English major at Angelwood University.” The agent looked up at Braylin when she finally finished reading her notes.

Braylin crossed her arms, sitting back in her chair. “Is there a question in there, _agent_?”

“Just wanted to make sure I pulled up the correct person’s information.” She smiled at Braylin. “You can call me Irene.”

“Still not hearing any questions _Irene_.”

“Why did you choose Angelwood?” Irene clasped her hands together over her file folder.

With a scoff, Braylin looked away. “One of your guys saves me from getting killed, and you want to know I picked my college?”

“Yes.” Irene’s eyes were daring her.

“I wanted to go to college with my best friend, that a crime?”

“No.” She shuffled a few papers in her folder and put a few pictures in front of Braylin. The pictures were of Shade and Silver Remix. “So, is your partner this friend of yours?”

Braylin glaring at her was enough of an answer for the FBI agent.

“Where was she tonight?”

“We’re both supposed to be healing from injuries, but I…” Braylin sighed, glancing at the woman. “I couldn’t just sit around.”

“And now you have more injuries to show for it.” Irene took the pictures back. “What are the Silver Remix’s powers? It’s been unclear to outsiders.”

“She can do something to air so she can walk on it, and can affect soundwaves. They’re not very useful powers.” Shrugging, Brayling picked up the cup of water from the table. She was careful not to put her lips to the rim.

“If we wanted to test your DNA, we took some of your blood while we were patching you up.” Irene watched Braylin sigh as she put the cup down. “What about your powers Braylin?”

“I don’t have any. If I did, I probably wouldn’t have needed Callum’s help.” She scoffed, looking a little smug until she saw confusion on Irene’s face. “What?”

“Nothing, nothing…” Irene flipped through the papers again. It was a pitiful stack.

“Seems like you’re missing some information.” Braylin pointed at the papers. “Was something above your clearance level?”

Irene looked back up at her, glaring at the teen when she realized that she wasn’t joking. “What sort of things?”

“Well, you never mentioned my family.” Braylin leaned in closer. “Unfortunately, if your own system won’t tell you, then I probably shouldn’t either.”

Irene closed the file with a sigh. “I’m going to keep working on finding out more about you, Braylin. Until then, based on what happened tonight and the information I have, I have two options.”

“Something tells me that I won’t like either of them.” Braylin was crossing her arms again, her body tensing up.

“You put yourself and others in unnecessary danger, so I cannot in conscious release you on your own recognizance. I can either detain you here or you can become a member of the Combs institute.” Irene held up a chain with two dog tags hanging off of it. “What do you say, _Shade_?”

Braylin stared at the tags for a while before reached for them. Irene smiled as she dropped them into her hand.

“Welcome to the team.”

Irene left without looking back, leaving the door open. A few seconds later, Callum came in, where normal clothes. He looked at Braylin’s hand and sighed. “So, I guess we’ll be seeing even more of each other from now on.”

She looked up at him as she put the chair around her neck. “Seems like. We should get back to the college, don’t want to miss the first day of classes.”

“You have a really positive attitude for someone that got shot, twice, in the last few hours.” Callum followed after her when she got up to leave the interrogation room.

“It isn’t the first time I’ve been shot, and probably won’t be the last.” Braylin shrugged, pausing to turn to him. “How the hell do we get out of this place?”

 

Braylin woke up to someone banging on the door, calling her name. She lifted her head with a groan, remembering that she hadn’t locked the door when she came in just as the handle turned.

Her eyes blinked against the light when Aspen turned it on suddenly. “Morning…”

Aspen was silent as she stared at her best friend. Her eyes were focused on the dried blood on the bandage over the bullet wound on Braylin’s leg. Braylin sat up and stared at Aspen with a guilty look on her face.

“I’m sorry…” Braylin looked down, Aspen’s face going red with anger as she looked over the rest of her friend’s bruise covered body.

“Sorry? You… what the hell were thinking? And last night of all nights?” Aspen walked over to the bed, pushing Braylin back in her anger. Braylin grunted in pain as her head bounced off the wall. As she rubbed the back of her head, she was being pulled forward by Aspen grabbing the dog tags that were still around her neck. “And what is this?”

Braylin didn’t say anything as Aspen looked over the information on the tags.

“Good morning, how… is everything okay in here?” Callum was at the door way, worry etched on his face. “Braylin, you okay?”

Taking the tags out of Aspen’s hand, Braylin pushed her friend back gently so she could get out of bed. “I’m fine.”

She winced as she put weight on her injured leg and Callum just sighed. Aspen glanced at Callum. Her eyes fell on his chest and she walked towards him, taking his dog tags in her hand. “What the hell happened last night?”

Callum looked over at Braylin, who had moved back to sitting on the bed. “Shut the door Callum.


	11. Dr Boss

Aspen hadn’t said anything since Braylin explain what had happened. She was tense as she stood with her arms crossed, looking pointedly at the floor. Callum was staring at the girl expectantly while Braylin just messed with the edges of the bandage on her leg.

When she finally looked up, her eyes went to her RA. “When do you get done classes today?”

Callum took a step back, uncomfortable with the harsh gaze that the girl was giving him. “Four?”

“You’re going to take me to see this Combs Institute.” She glanced at Braylin who was starting to stand up. “I’m not going to let you do this alone.”

“With the way I’m hurt, I honestly don’t think that I’ll be fighting for a while.” Braylin took a few breaths before walking over to her closet to get clothes for the day.

“It isn’t your choice anymore Braylin.” Callum crossed his arms as he looked at her. She stopped when he spoke. “I choose to join the institute, so I can leave anytime I want and go out on my own, but you’re stuck with them as long as they have grounds to arrest you.”

Aspen looked over at Braylin, who had moved to lean heavily the closest object. “Braylin?”

“I’ll meet you downstairs once I get ready.”

 

“Are you sure you’re going to be okay, walking around like that?” Aspen glanced down at Braylin’s leg. The other girl was limping and her face was contorted with pain as they walked across campus.

“I’m going to have to be.” Braylin stopped putting her weight all on her good leg.

“Are you… do you think this wound will heal?” The question was asked carefully.

“I don’t know…” She glanced down at her leg, feeling blood dripping under her pant leg. “Probably not.”

“What are you going to do if they…” Aspen looked at Braylin, her hand on the other girl’s shoulder.

“I’m going to have to fight.” Braylin couldn’t look up at her friend, especially when the grip on her shoulder tightened.

“You _want_ to fight.”

“Yes, but I don’t want to die. If I’m not healing, then… what I did last night was stupid.” Braylin looked up at Aspen. “I’m really sorry, I am… I-I…”

Aspen pulled her into a hug. “I’m going to be there next time, to keep you from doing something reckless, to keep you from getting yourself killed.”

Braylin buried her face in Aspen’s shoulder. “Thank you.”

They stood there like that for a while before Aspen pulled away. “Come on, we’re going to be late.” She looked at Braylin’s face, and put her hands on her friend’s face when she saw that she was crying. “Oh my… hey, hey…”

“I’m okay, I’m okay, just...” Braylin wiped at her eyes. “I… I don’t know if I could do this without you.”

“Do what?”

“Anything.” Braylin was smiling at her, then she let out a laugh. “My class is this way, I’ll see you later.”

Aspen nodded, watching her friend limp away towards the science building. She heard someone calling for her, turning to see Kyle smiling at her. They found out that they had a history class together first thing in morning. Waving at him, she smiled as he approached her.

 

Braylin walked into her class and Callum stared at her with an incredulous look on his face. She sat next to him and glanced over at him. “Shouldn’t you have already taken calc 3, as a senior computer science major?”

“I’m retaking it.” Callum sighed. “What’s your major?”

“English Literature.” Braylin shrugged. “Do you know the professor?”

“No, he’s new here. His first year teaching.” He was still staring at her like she had multiple heads. “Why are you taking calculus at all?”

“They signed me up for it.”

“The school just signed you up for calc 3?”

“Ye of little faith.” She grinned at him.

The entire room jumped when a man in a suit dropped a pile of books on the front table. He sat on the table, looking around the room. His eyes fell on Braylin and Callum tried not to follow their professor’s eyes.

“Good morning. I’m sorry I’m a little late, I was getting some gossip about a huge donor that is signing over a large amount of money, getting a building named after him.” He moved his eyes off Braylin, looking around the rest of the room, a small grin on his face. “I wonder makes Frank Kitmen so interested in our little liberal arts school.”

Braylin looked down at her desk, mumbling to herself.

“But, I’m Zache Boss. I have a PhD in math, which I do not recommend if you ever want a steady job that doesn’t involve kids.” He ran his fingers through his hair. “But, you guys want your syllabi, get through the get-to-know-you activity I have planned, and leave, so I digress.”

While Dr. Boss talked about the syllabus, Braylin stared at him while everyone else flipped through the papers with him. She turned away anytime that he turned towards her. Callum glanced at her occasionally.

Callum introduced himself and then looked at Braylin. She was the only freshman in the room and the last one to talk. Taking a deep breath, she introduced herself.

“Thank you, Braylin. On Thursday, we’ll be staring our first lesson, so read through the chapter.”

“I got a weird vibe between you and Dr. Boss.” Callum said as they walked away from the room. “You know him or something?”

“No, but he… looked familiar, and like he knew me…” Braylin rubbed the back of her neck.

“Weird. I mean, my parents told me that Angelwood gets a lot of supers, maybe he’s one and…”

“Your parents?” She gave him a strange look, and he grimaced.

“Yeah, they’re heroes too… well, dad’s not a super, he’s a cop. Mom… she’s… uh, the Shepard…” Shrinking under her gaze, he looked around, looking for an exit.

“Wow, all your family have lame aliases like that?”

“No, my sister’s…” He paused and looked up at her, realizing she was joking.

“So, that’s why you’re a hero. Makes sense.” Braylin put her hands in her pockets.

“Why are you a hero?”

“You have to be a level 10 friend to unlock my tragic backstory.” She grinned at him, knocking her shoulder with him. “Aspen doesn’t know still, so there’s no way you’re going to get to hear it.”

Callum just groaned, pushing her shoulder. “You should get to your next class, freshman.”


	12. G.E.T

“You drive a Jag?” Callum was flipping out, motioning to the car wildly. Braylin rolled her eyes as she opened the doors. Aspen patted him on the back as she opened the passenger door. “Who are you people?”

“I’m a poor orphan, and Braylin is an independently wealthy mystery.” Aspen shrugged when he finally moved to get into the car. Braylin just grinned to herself as she made the engine growl.

“Okay, but freshmen aren’t allowed to have cars…” Callum leaned forward to look at them.

“I had 42 transfer credits, so I’m not technically a freshman by credits.”

“When did you have time for that many credits?”

“And you thought I just sat around my apartment when I wasn’t fighting crime or helping you with your geometry homework.”

“You know, I honestly shouldn’t be surprised by anything you do by this point.” Aspen’s sigh was one of resignation, and it made Braylin wince.

“Aspen… I…”

“I understand. You’re probably so used to keeping secrets, you don’t even know how to tell me the truth.”

“Callum, will you just say the address?”

“What? Oh, yeah…” After he said the address, a computerized voice repeated the address and directions showed up on the windshield. Callum blinked up at the windshield. “What the hell…?”

“Callum, meet Jet.” Aspen motioned towards the windshield.

“Jet?”

“G. E.T. General Escort Technician.” The voice explained. “While I primarily a gps, I can also adjust the radio and environment settings, call for emergency services, and control the vehichle’s weapons system.”

Callum swallowed hard as he stared at Braylin, who was pulling out of the spot finally.

“I’m joking about the weapons system.” Jet seemed amused. “Please sit down and put on your seatbelt, Callum.”

“You have an AI in your car? An AI that tells jokes?”

“Does not everyone have an AI in their car?” Braylin’s tone was mocking as she followed the insistently blinking arrows on the glass. “I’m aware how odd it is to have an AI.”

“She wanted to get one for her apartment.” Aspen shrugged as she pulled out her phone.

“Yeah, but that one would have been a special design, not one off the market.”

“Are you displeased with me?” Jet questioned.

“I can’t really imagine you’d be very helpful in a building Jet.”

“She talks to her car…” Callum had his phone out too, and tapped away on his phone. “Who makes this? I can’t find anything about it?”

“Kitelligence.” Braylin sighed as she took a turn too sharply, Jet complaining loudly. “They only sold it for about a year, just a few copies. I’m pretty sure I’m the only one that still uses it.”

“That’s a subsect of the Kitmen Healthcare Conglomerate, right? Why would they design a GPS system?”

Aspen glanced over at Braylin, who let out a breath. “You have more intelligent cars, you have less accidents, you have less accidents, you have less people who actually need healthcare.”

“How do you know that?”

“I read the-…” Braylin started but Jet interluded.

“Miss Lorimer was one of my primary designers.”

“What?” The word was as harsh as a slap to the face. If Braylin wasn’t driving she’d have closed her eyes under the harsh gaze of her best friend. “I didn’t know you…”

“She was the lead on…”

“Jet, just stop, you’re not helping.” Braylin slammed her hands against the steering wheel.

“The increased stress levels indicate you may not be fit to drive, perhaps you should pull over and…” Jet’s voice stopped as Braylin pressed a button on the radio panel. The directions on her windshield vanished.

“Maybe we should pull over.” Callum said quietly from the backseat.

“Shut up Callum.” Both girls said, Braylin gripping the steer wheel tight enough to make her knuckles white and Aspen crossing her arms.

They drove in silence for a few seconds before Callum said to make a right turn at the light. Hearing the directions, Aspen sighed and looked at Braylin.

“I’m sorry. I literally just told you I wouldn’t get mad about…”

“It’s fine.” Braylin’s grip loosened slightly.

“I didn’t know you knew anything about computers. Half the time you can’t work Word.” Aspen raised an eyebrow at the other girl.

“I designed his personality parameters based on some statistical psychology bullshit.”

“That explains his terrible sense of humor.” She grinned at Braylin until the sour look fell off her face.

“Being with you two is like being on a soap opera. Have either of you ever been tested for bipolar disorder?” Callum was still looking up stuff about Jet. “Oh, I found an article about it, it was about five years ago that it came out, but it was in development for like two before that.”

“So, you started working on it when you were… right after we met?” Aspen’s smile fell, with realization. “Because of me?”

“Yeah. It was supposed to make people safer, but the project became so costly, that only other rich people bought it.”

“My parents died in a car crash, if you’re confused back there.” Aspen turned in her seat to see Callum looking at his phone with wide eyes. “What?”

“‘…project headed by Braylin Lorimer, goddaughter of Chair, owner, and CEO of Kitellegence, Frank Kitmen…’” Callum quoted from the article. “You’re Frank Kitmen’s goddaughter?”

Braylin sparred her bestfriend a glance, while Callum was yelling out about missing a turn. Before she spoke, Braylin turned Jet back on, the directions resuming on her windshield. “Don’t look at me like that. You’ve met him, I’ve introduced you to him. It’s not my fault that you didn’t recognize him.”

“I’ve met…” Aspen’s eyes went wide with recognition. “Oh my God, I’ve met Frank Kitmen.”

“Can I meet him? I’m a senior, so I’ll sort of need a job, so maybe…”

“Send me a copy of your resume, I’ll see what I can do.” Braylin shrugged.

“Wow, what a connection. I can’t believe I have someone who can put a good word in with Frank Kitmen…”

“Put a word in?” Braylin laughed, wiping a tear from her eye. “While you’re looking up stuff about KHC, you might want to check up on the ownership.”

After a few moments of quiet, Jet giving directions and Callum willing his phone to load faster, he made a few incoherent noises. “You’re a majority shareholder. 15% of the company.”

Braylin just hummed. Aspen turned to look at him again. Callum looked up at her. “She has the second largest share, with Kitmen being second with 60%. Another four people have five percent each, then the last five is public.”

“I’m starting miss not knowing anything about you.” Aspen looked at her best friend, who was she was almost expecting her to be grinning. “Is there a specific reason you didn’t tell me about this?”

“When I went to those fancy private schools, everyone always sucked up to me because of Frank. I was tired of just being known by my relationship to someone else, so I didn’t want to… Then when I figured out it wouldn’t matter too you, it was sort of fun to make you constantly question where I got my money.”

“So, you get profits from the company?” Aspen rolled her eyes as she looked out the window. “I was beginning to think you had ties to the mafia.”

Braylin coughed and let out a nervous laugh.

“You have arrived.” Jet said suddenly as Braylin followed the arrow to park in front of a small pastry shop.

“So, the super mercenary base is a cake shop?” Aspen slammed the door, staring at the sign that said ‘Honey Combs Cakes and Pastries.’

“It’s around back, come on.” Callum rolled his eyes. Braylin started walking towards the alley next to the building. “Aren’t you going to feed the meter?”

“Does it take plastic, or hundreds?” She turned and raised her eyebrows at him.

“Actually, yes.” Callum leaned against the parking meter, motioning to the credit card slot. With a groan, Braylin rummaged through her pockets until she pulled out a see-through credit card.

Once they got to the back of the building, Callum held his dog tags to what seemed to be a standard security camera. Nothing happened for a while before a metal grate on the ground moved, revealing stairs. He nodded for the girls to go down first.

“Joy, more stairs, just what the bullet wound in my leg needed.”

“Why don’t you just have Frank buy you a new leg?” Aspen’s tone was teasing, and Braylin let out a few dry ‘haha’s.


	13. Classified

They walked through the base, some sections were open and dark, others were stark white with rooms and windows. Aspen tried to look around at everything, but they were walking quickly. Braylin didn’t seemed to be phased by any of this, and Callum calmly waved at various people.

When they finally stopped, it was outside of an office. The plaque on the door read ‘Special Agent Irene Combs, FBI’. Braylin blinked at it while Aspen flinched when she heard yelling inside.

Braylin opened the door, Apsen and Callum both reaching to stop her. The yelling immediately stopped when the door opened. Three adults in suits were staring at Braylin with wide eyes. The one FBI agent was a woman quite older than Irene, and the male looked to be only a few years older than the college students.

“Miss Lorimer.” The female agent smiled at her while the male was glaring at her. “If you wanted to…”

“I didn’t want to sign up with the FBI, Scully.” Braylin rolled her eyes before glancing at the male. “Especially with Agent Dickless.”

“You little brat, if it weren’t for Graves and I you would be…” He pointed an accusatory finger at her, but the older FBI agent pushed it down.

“Paul, calm down.” She smiled at Braylin kindly. “But it was a bit of a surprise, and a red flag when we detect Agent Combs’ search.”

Crossing her arms, Braylin winced when she tried to shift her weight onto her shot leg. “So, you’re chewing out Irene for going above her paygrade?”

“This agent is so low on the…” The male was pointing at Irene now, who jumped slightly at the movement.

“You only got your position b sheer dumb luck, as I recall Agent Steel.” Braylin shrugged, glancing at Agent Graves. “You going to take me away? Steal my contact out from under Irene?”

“No. But, what’s classified needs to stay classified, you understand. For your safety and for _his_.” The look Graves was giving Braylin was soft, but firm.

“Secrets must be secrets. I get it, I know the drill.” Braylin looked away. “But that means you’ll keep this to your selves, right?”

“We’re not going to lie to…” Agent Steel started before Agent Graves took his ear.

“You can be sure that Shade’s identity will not come out, unless you become a threat.” She started walking out, Aspen and Callum clearing the doorway quickly as she half dragged her much younger partner.

“Always a pleasure Sharon.” Braylin sighed, glancing at Irene, who looked a little shell shocked. “I guess this means you can’t ask me any more of those questions, at least not without getting assreamed by your bosses.”

“You have quite a mouth on you, you know that?” Irene took a seat in her chair with a sigh. “You must be pretty important to have them send people, in person.”

“Me? I’m just a rich kid with a hero complex.” Braylin shrugged. “But, I do have a surprise for you. I don’t know if you wanted the set or not, but, this is Silver Remix.”

Aspen came in and waved at Irene slightly. “Hello, uh… Agent?”

Irene looked between the two girls before motioning to Aspen to sit. “If you’ll excuse us Shade, there’s a way these things are done and…”

“I’m leaving, I’m leaving. Callum can give me the tour.”

Once Braylin shut the door, Callum looked at her with wide eyes. “You weren’t kidding when you said ‘tragic backstory’.”

“Just shut up and show me around.” Braylin turned him around and pushed him forward slightly.

“Actually, we should see if the Nurser is around.” Callum started walking and Braylin let out a snort.

“The Nurser?”

“He has healing powers. You could use some healing.”

After several minutes of wandering around the facitily, Callum pointing out the lounge, armory, research department, cyber department, a few places that were off limits that he only had vague ideas of what happened, and finally the infirmary. Braylin didn’t say anything as she followed him, letting him talk about some of the different people who worked there and some of their stories. He didn’t even seem to notice her silence, or the uncomfortable look on his face as he talked.

“Nurser?” Callum called as he walked into the infirmary. Braylin recognized it from the day before. “You in here?”

Someone came out of one of the rooms, an unlit cigarette between his lips. Braylin stared him. His skin was darker than Aspen’s, not quite as dark as Callum. His eyes were dark grey and his long hair had a headband in it that wasn’t even trying to hold back his bangs. He looked at Braylin, a bored expression on his face. “You must be the newest member on the team, Shade, right?”

“Yeah.” Braylin tilted her head slightly. He was certainly attractive. “The Virus says you’re a healer.”

“Hmm, hear you got injured last night, and that you sold your soul to Queen Bee.”

“Queen Bee?”

“Irene.” Callum sighed, his eyes on the other man. “And it wasn’t much of a deal for her.”

“I see, why don’t you step into my office and I’ll see what I can do for you, Shade.” He motioned into the room he had just come out of. Braylin went in and got up on the bed, moving to roll up her pant leg. There was a lot of dried blood around the bullet wound.

“That’s pretty nasty.” Nurser started to unwrap her leg and grimaced at the wound. It was obvious that it had been sewn together and that it had attempted to clot up throughout the day. “Never seen a wound do this before, especially a leg wound.”

“You should see the one I have on my stomach.” Braylin huffed when brought glowing hands close to her leg.

“One wound at a time.”

She winced when she felt an odd sensation on the wound, like healing and calm, but so much quicker and extreme. Her eyes closed as she gripped at the sheets on the bed. In a few seconds the feeling of healing went away and there was just a draining exhaustion rushing over her.

The Nurser had dropped his head to her knee and was panting. Braylin opened her eyes to see that the wound was still very much there, healed just enough to keep from reopening and bleeding everywhere, but still there. “You okay?”

“What the hell are you? I’ve never not been able to heal a wound before.” He turned to look up at her, sweat dripping across his face.

“Shit.” Braylin rolled her pant leg back down. “I have no idea what’s happening. If someone with healing powers can’t heal me… then I’m fucked.”

“A lot of that going around.” The Nurser wiped the sweat off of his face, standing up and turning towards the door. “See you around Shade.”

Callum walked over to her and put a hand on her shoulder, which she brushed off. “Come on, let’s see if Agent is done with Aspen yet. I want to get out of this place.”


	14. Don't

Aspen was staring down at the dog tags in her hand and standing outside of Irene’s office. Braylin shook her shoulder gently when Aspen didn’t answer her. “Hey, you okay?”

She looked up at Braylin then away again as she sighed. “Yeah. It’s just… this is so crazy.”

“Not that crazy. Most superheroes have some kind of agreement with the FBI or the UN about their operations.” Callum smiled at her reassuringly.

“They don’t have this much supervision. The FBI doesn’t tell most heroes who they can and cannot save.” Braylin glanced at him.

Aspen glared at her best friend. “Is how you know that classified?”

“I thought you were done being mad about secrets?”

“At this point, how many more secrets could you have? Are you going to hide behind the FBI now whenever one comes up?”

Braylin flinched back as her friend yelled at her. “I-I…”

“Don’t bother. I’ll walk back to school.” Aspen slipped the chain of the dog tags around her neck before she walked away. Braylin took a few steps to follow after her. “Just leave me alone.”

Groaning, Braylin fell back against the wall, her head hitting with a painful sounding thunk. Callum grimaced at her but didn’t say anything, waiting for her to say something or move. The ride back to the college was silent and they didn’t pass Aspen at all. Once they were back, Braylin went to her room, slamming her door shut.

 

Braylin didn’t look up when her door opened later, hearing Aspen complaining. Kyle’s voice sounded worried as he spoke. “We’re grabbing dinner.”

“I’m not hungry.” Braylin’s focus was still on her laptop.

“Are you sure? I heard they’re really pulling out all the stops at the dinning hall.” Kyle took a step to come into the room but Aspen pulled him back.

“Just leave her alone.” Aspen murmured to the boy. Kyle looked back at her then at Braylin again.

“Well, we’ll probably be there for a while if you change your mind.” Kyle turned to leave.

“I won’t. Make sure you shut that on your way out.” Braylin glanced up at him finally, her eyes catching Aspen’s, who looked away quickly.

“I told you that I didn’t want you to invite her!” Aspen said as the door shut. The door muffled Kyle’s reply, but it was very confused.

 

Braylin winces as she gets out of bed the next morning. She hadn’t gotten any sleep. She had tried, _tried_ _so hard_ to get some sleep, but she couldn’t. If she managed to stay awake for the whole day, it would be a miracle. Her head was pounding and her entire body hurt, but especially her leg and stomach.

Her stomach growled and she remembered that she never actually had dinner the night before. Honestly, she hadn’t felt hungry at the time, but now she was starving. She could probably each an entire farm’s worth of cows. The time on her alarm clock told her that she didn’t have time to grab any breakfast though.

Once she was dressed, she pulled her hair back lazily into a ponytail. She had also neglected a shower, so it was terribly greasy and she wanted it out of her face. When she left her room, she passed Aspen who was locking her door and looked away. Aspen didn’t even look up at her.

 

She walked into her second class, an introductory art class she had signed up for, and blinked at the person standing on a desk to poke at the buttons on the projector hanging from the ceiling. There were only a few other people in the room, and they were all ignoring him.

“Do you need some help?” Braylin dropped her backpack next to the desk he was standing on. He looked like he was about to fall.

“Uh…” He looked down and his eyes went wide. “Oh… it’s you.”

“Yeah. What are you doing?” She crossed her arms.

“Trying to get this fucking thing to work, but it looks like we’ll have to do without the PowerPoint today.” The Nurser sighed. “Can you move so I can get down?”

“Sure, you don’t want a hand?”

“Just want you need, more injuries from me falling on you. Just move.” He waved his hands and she took a step to the side, watching him get down. Once he was done, he looked her up and down. “What’s your actual name?”

“Braylin Lorimer. Yours?”

“George Remmington,” He sighed, moving away from the desk so she could sit at it eventually. “I’m actually teaching this class.”

“Oh? You look a little young for a professor.”

“I’m a grad student. Teaching classes pays the bills.” He rolled his eyes.

Braylin hummed as she sat down. “I’m sure it does, Remmy.”

Opening his few times to say something, he gave up and turned to move to the computer on the podium in the front of the room. Braylin rested her chin on her hands as she looked at him, a slight smile on her face.

Once class ended, early because George had gone over the syllabus and the first art project the class would be working on, Braylin walked up to the podium and leaned against it.

“So, art history, that’s a daring major.” She grinned at him and he glared at her. “Kidding. I’m an English major, so I know the pain of not being employable.”

“Uh-huh.” He rolled his eyes, but he gave her a small smile. “Don’t you have another class to get to, freshman?”

“I don’t have another class for…” She pulled out her phone and grinned. “Another hour and a half.”

“Oh? So you’ll always have a break after this class?”

“That’s how schedules work, right?”

“Hmm, I’m not sure that I should be spending so much time with a student.”

“But we’re also teammates now. The better we know each other the better we can fight together, right? At least that’s what Sailor Moon lead me to believe as a kid.”

“Wow. Why don’t we go grab lunch?” He moved out from behind the podium and started leaving the room. “Do you have a dinning plan?”

Braylin grinned as he followed him out of the room.

 

Callum dropped his tray between Braylin and George at the dinning hall, collapsing in the chair with a dramatic sigh. “What a day!”

“It’s only one o’clock Callum.” George stabbed at his pasta as he looked at the younger male.

Dropping the fork he had just picked up, he looked at George like he hadn’t noticed him sitting there. “George?”

“Hi Callum.”

“Didn’t you basically say that you hated Braylin yesterday?” He furrowed his eyebrows at the grad student.

“She just confuses me, frankly I’d like to dissect her to figure out why I can’t heal her.” He shrugged as he continued eating.

Braylin hummed. “You and me both.”

Sighing, Callum started eating. “So, how’d you run into each other?”

“Braylin’s in the class I’m teaching.”

“Oh? You’re taking an art class?” Callum glanced at her.

“Yes?”

“Maybe we should dissect you.”

Braylin just grinned at the comment.

 

When Braylin walked back into the dorms later, she initially was planning on passing the group of students plastered around the TV in the common room, but a few key words caught her attention. She walked over, her eyes trained on the TV.

It was the news, more specifically superhero coverage. It wasn’t one of the superheroes that got a lot of coverage, so it was the villains that the reporters were more concerned with. The hero wasn’t holding well against the two people she was fighting again. Crimson Charmer and Shadow Siren were winning the fight, even if the commentary from the reporters said otherwise.

She flinched when Crimson Charmer fell to the ground when a bullet fired by anxious cop hit it. Shadow Siren was helping him up quickly and they were fleeing beyond the reach of the battered superhero and the terrified officers.

The reporters were regretful of the turn of the events when their faces came back onto the screen. Braylin let out a breath she didn’t know she had been holding, turning to go to her room. Her first major class had assigned a paper for the next class period.

“Bomb just made it to the scene and is chasing after the two culprits!” The reporter sounded excited. She was one of the few reporters that had gotten an interview with the number one hero in their half of the country.

Groaning, Braylin turned back to the TV to watch a grainy video feed of Bomb chasing after the two, who were moving slower than the man. She sucked in another breath, her hands shaking slightly.

When the fighting started, Braylin clenched her hands at her sides and turned. She moved up to her dorm quickly. As she limped down the hallway, tears threatening to fall from her eyes, she heard Aspen call after her. She ignored the other girl and slammed her door shut, locking it.

“Go away Aspen.” She sobbed out when she heard a knock on her door.

“Come on, please… I want to help. Whatever it is.”

“You can’t, so just…” Braylin heard her walk away and she closed her eyes as she sat on her bed.


	15. Revelations

Aspen was angrily shoving French fries in her mouth, Callum and Kyle both going on and on about Braylin. They both had a class with her, and it seemed like she had been talking to them like everything was fine. She hadn’t talked to her in almost three days.

“Have you seen her at all today?” Both boys were staring at her and she wasn’t entirely which one of them had asked the question. It was the first weekend of the school year and she had spent most of her day with Kyle and then Callum joined them for dinner.

“Who?” She looked back down at her food felt them still staring at her.

“Your best friend of ten years?” Kyle reached towards her. “I’m worried about you guys.”

“What’s there to be worried about, we’ve both been busy.” She shrugged.

“She’s spent most of the last few days in her room. I haven’t seen her leave except for class.”

With a sigh, she pushed her food away from her. “The other day, she was in her room crying… I have no idea what happened and I _tried_ to help her, but she just…”

“The other day? The first floor RA told me one of mine ran from the common room while the news was on…” Callum pulled out his phone and scrolled for a while with a determine look on his face. “Crimson Charmer and Shadow Siren were doing something incredibly evil, and then one got injured by some hero, then Bomb showed up on the scene…”

Aspen scrunched her eyebrows together, staring at Callum while she tried to think of a reason that would have her so upset. Kyle looked between them with confusion.

Her eyes went to her phone as it buzzed once, then again. Texts from Braylin.

“You going to answer them?” Kyle smiled at her softly and she took a deep breath as she picked up her phone. “Well?”

“I have to go. She wants to talk.”

“Tell her that we’re here for her.” Callum nodded in agreement of Kyle’s words.

“Not a chance in hell that’s happening.” She grinned at them, leaving the cafeteria quickly.

 

Braylin’s door was open and she didn’t look up when Aspen came in. She was sitting in the windowsill, looking out on the staff parking lot behind their building. “Close the door.”

Aspen did as asked, even locking it. “What did you want to talk about?”

“Everything. It’s time I came clean.” Braylin’s hand tightened to a fist on her knee. “I should’ve told you before we… start this whole crime fighting thing and…”

“Braylin. Whatever it is, whatever you need to tell me, just remember that I’m not going anywhere. Every detention and suspension, every time I found you in a pool of your own blood, every fight we weren’t prepared for, I didn’t run. I’m still here, and I always will be.”

She ran her hand over her wrist, but didn’t say anything for a long time. Aspen was starting to think that she’d scared her out of talking to her, when Braylin finally started speaking again.

“Frank used to be friends with this guy named Jesse, they were friends for a long time. They were… they were a lot like us, at least that’s what Frank likes to tell me.” Braylin pulled in a breath and her body tensed. “When they found out about their superpowers, they decided to become superheroes, but something happened early on in their crime fighting career. At first Jesse did what he did just for revenge, but then he started to like hurting people, taking what he wanted, when he wanted. Frank followed his friend into being a villain.”

Aspen had so many questions, but she didn’t think asking them would get them answered. Saying anything would probably just make her close up again.

“They went to separate colleges, and met people with similar views on the world. There were five of them now, and they ended up in this crazy love thing. The Visionaries.”

“Frank Kitmen was a member of the Visionaries?” Aspen couldn’t stop the question.

“Yes. He is Bomb. It’s no secret that Bomb used to be criminal, but the public was so quick to except him as a hero that most people don’t even remember. He was a villain for five years, but he’s been a hero for almost twenty.” Braylin glanced at her, something dark in her eyes. “All the Kitmen companies were built with his ill-gotten riches from his time as villain.”

“What made him… become a hero?”

“Me. He changed sides because of me.”

“Is he why you fight so hard?”

“Frank has nothing to do with it. He’s always telling me that it’s my choice who I want to be.” She looked back out towards the outside world. “In not so many words, he’s told me that he wouldn’t love me any less if I ever chose to become a villain.”

“Then why?”

“For the first year of my life I lived with the Visionaries, them taking care of me as a unit. Jesse, aka the Crimson Charmer; Alice, aka the Shadow Siren; Nina, aka the Dark Illusionist; and Power Outage.”

Aspen moved off the bed quickly when she heard the telltale sounds of sobs. She wrapped her arms around her friend, resting her head against Braylin’s. “Hey, it’s okay. That’s not where you are now.”

“It doesn’t matter if I’m with them or not, Apsen. Nothing changes that they’re my family, that despite everything…” She turned and pressed her face into Apsen’s shoulder. “The Crimson Charmer and Shadow Siren are my _parents_. The only good thing they’ve ever done is give me up to Frank. Their evil runs in my blood.”

“Evil isn’t in the blood, idiot. You’re a hero. A stupid hero, but a hero nonetheless.” Aspen let out an exasperated sigh. “I’m glad you told me. And I’m sorry that you thought you couldn’t before.”

When Braylin pulled away, she wiped her eyes, not looking at Aspen. “I wonder if telling you sooner would’ve made a difference.”

Aspen took her wrists gently. “That’s the past. All that matters is that you don’t have to carry this burden by yourself anymore. You can talk to me, especially when it gets hard.”

“Thank you.” Braylin looked down at where Aspen’s hands were on her wrists.

“So, are you in contact with them?”

“No. I used to spend entire days with them, until I turned ten and I really understood what they did. I haven’t seen them since I told them I never wanted to see them again. They send me a card on my birthday… They give it to Frank during a fight.”

Aspen blinked a few times before making a slightly distressed noise. “They do things that they think will draw out Bomb just so they can pass him… The other night…”

“Yeah. I watched Mom pass it off to him, right on the live feed. They killed six people before Frank showed.” Tears were at Braylin’s eyes again.

“What your parents do… it has nothing to do with you. You’re not your parents and you have no control over their actions.”

Braylin was hugging her and crying again. Aspen pulled her off the windowsill and moved her to the bed.

“You should get some sleep, you look terrible.” Aspen smiled at her as he ran her fingers through Braylin’s hair.

“Easier said than done. I haven’t been sleeping lately.” Braylin looked at her friend, her eyes still red from her tears.

“Like at all?”

“Like at all.” Braylin took a few deep breaths. “And I haven’t been hungry lately. I’ve been forcing myself to eat, but… I don’t think I’ve eaten anything all day.”

“We need to find that Unwritten Prophet bitch and make her fix you. You can’t keep going on like this, not sleeping, healing, or eating.”

“The worst part is, I feel… okay for the most part.”

“You don’t look it. You look like death is breathing down your neck.” Aspen stopped petting her friend, cupping her cheek instead. “Do you want me to stay up with you, since you can’t sleep?”

“Please, at least for a while.”

“Okay, let me go change.” Aspen got off the bed and walked towards the door.

“And Aspen… promise you won’t tell anyone else.”

“The thought didn’t even cross my mind.”


End file.
